I am, apparently a clown. Lost 130lbs, and put every single pound back on in the last two years.
Replies
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Theoldguy1 wrote: »
As soon as people are willing to admit this the sooner real progress can be made.
Best of luck.
The saying 'same storm, different boat' comes to mind. While the pandemic and working from home has given me the time to devote to exercise and planning meals I know I'm one of the lucky ones. For some their world has been turned upside down, from greif to illness. Even home schooling has been a huge challenge that has left families under enormous stress and with very little time. Any of these could have huge effect on both your mental and physical health.15 -
I think the mental aspects of weight management is something that does not receive enough attention. It can be difficult to get yourself into a head space that is conducive to weight loss. And once you are there, it can be hard to stay there. And this varies by person because we all have our own past experiences and the issues that go with them. It might even vary by attempt, which is why it seems to be easy sometimes and so difficult at other times. So, it’s not surprising to me at all that one person might find the pandemic to be the impetus they needed to lose weight and someone else may find that it contributed to a larger than expected weight gain.
My own derailment was preceded by minor surgery in Dec 2019. I am just now starting to make progress in the right direction after more than one false start. The best any of us can do is to strive for improvement, even if our progress is interrupted (sometimes for years at a time).
I wish you the best of luck in reaching your goals.9 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Sorry but the pandemic didn't make anyone gain weight, it was the individual's actions.
As soon as people are willing to admit this the sooner real progress can be made.
Best of luck.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.usatoday.com/amp/4509219001
“Eating disorders thrive in isolation.” Halfway through the article it’s states this and goes a bit deeper into why many people struggled through the pandemic. Congratulations, you aren’t one of them!!
Also... person-in-environment perspective...
https://oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.001.0001/acrefore-9780199975839-e-285
People are a product of their environment! For most people, that got pretty chaotic, stressful, and messy! Try not to be so judgmental... a lot of people have significantly struggled over the last year! From what I can tell, the OP has admitted to their actions that caused weight gain and is here to take action to improve their situation!
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I too lost 130lbs in 2015 only to put it all back on plus an extra 14lbs for good measure! Currently working my way back down again (for the last time!!)14
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Oh my gosh, what a place to find yourself. I’ve done the same thing twice in the past, although for me it was 50 pounds. And I didn’t have the pandemic as an excuse, I just gradually let me husband convince me to eat more like he ate. My trick fhis time was to convince him to change his ways too! I know myself well enough to know I can’t resist temptation indefinitely so I reduced my sources of temptation.
At least you know you can do it. Best of luck to you.4 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Sorry but the pandemic didn't make anyone gain weight, it was the individual's actions.
As soon as people are willing to admit this the sooner real progress can be made.
Best of luck.
Some things are true but not useful. Like, “Your baby is ugly.” It may be true, but what is anyone supposed to do about it? It’s better left unsaid.
The OP knows that no one else stuffed food in his mouth. It’s also probably true that he wouldn’t have overeaten and underexercised without the pandemic. His actions were a response to what happened. A different response was possible, but he didn’t make it. He seems pretty aware of this, thus calling himself a clown. But the weight is there now, and no amount of unpleasantness can reverse time. So, “It’s your own fault,” is both true and not useful.27 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »Sorry but the pandemic didn't make anyone gain weight, it was the individual's actions.
As soon as people are willing to admit this the sooner real progress can be made.
Best of luck.
Yeah, most logical people know this, but the pandemic sure made it a lot easier for A LOT of people to make choices and actions that lead to weight gain. I just heard on the news last night that the average weight gain for people during the pandemic was 2 pounds per month, so OP is definitely not alone. And just because I was one of the lucky few who actually manged to lose at that rate during a period of 6 months, doesn't mean I can't sympathize with others who followed the pandemic weight gain trend.
OP, a lot of us here on MFP are not new to the weight loss game and have gained and regained the same amount of weight. The good news is is that's there opportunity now to make it the LAST time you lose that weight.7 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Sorry but the pandemic didn't make anyone gain weight, it was the individual's actions.
As soon as people are willing to admit this the sooner real progress can be made.
Best of luck.
Some things are true but not useful. Like, “Your baby is ugly.” It may be true, but what is anyone supposed to do about it? It’s better left unsaid.
The OP knows that no one else stuffed food in his mouth. It’s also probably true that he wouldn’t have overeaten and underexercised without the pandemic. His actions were a response to what happened. A different response was possible, but he didn’t make it. He seems pretty aware of this, thus calling himself a clown. But the weight is there now, and no amount of unpleasantness can reverse time. So, “It’s your own fault,” is both true and not useful.
I just believe in personal responsibility. We all make mistakes in various parts of our lives. We can't really correct them and improve if we don't identify the reason and take personal responsibly instead of blaming a scapegoat.
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Theoldguy1 wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Sorry but the pandemic didn't make anyone gain weight, it was the individual's actions.
As soon as people are willing to admit this the sooner real progress can be made.
Best of luck.
Some things are true but not useful. Like, “Your baby is ugly.” It may be true, but what is anyone supposed to do about it? It’s better left unsaid.
The OP knows that no one else stuffed food in his mouth. It’s also probably true that he wouldn’t have overeaten and underexercised without the pandemic. His actions were a response to what happened. A different response was possible, but he didn’t make it. He seems pretty aware of this, thus calling himself a clown. But the weight is there now, and no amount of unpleasantness can reverse time. So, “It’s your own fault,” is both true and not useful.
I just believe in personal responsibility. We all make mistakes in various parts of our lives. We can't really correct them and improve if we don't identify the reason and take personal responsibly instead of blaming a scapegoat.
The OP came on here and called himself a clown. I think it was said in a joking manner, but that sounds like a person who knows he had a role to play in what happened.
I do think there are people who would rather bury their heads in the sand and not take responsibility. You are completely right about that. But this has an element of "kicking someone when they're down," and I don't think it's helpful. Acknowledging the difficulties of one's environment isn't the same thing as abdicating all responsibility. It's smart to know what obstacles you're working with, so you can overcome them. Pretending they're not there is a recipe for burnout.20 -
@Theoldguy1 Brother, I am going to have to give you my shirt that says, "Warning: Contents may hurt fee fee's!"
I think you are right in a way. People love to have an excuse for what they do. The "Pandemic", (I personally don't think we should have locked down healthy people in retrospect.) We all have personal choice. We tend justify our bad decisions with excuses. I'm guilty as anyone else. Yes, some people had their lives changed, but how we react to change is up to us. "kicking someone while they were down" maybe, maybe not. Some people do well with the hand holding approach. Others, such as myself, need to have boot applied to @$$ at times.
I personally think OP is trying to get their *kitten* together. God knows, even after nearly 5 years of this stuff, I am still getting mine together. So, I cast NO stones. Best of luck OP. I would love to hear how you are doing in the future.11 -
Theoldguy1 wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Sorry but the pandemic didn't make anyone gain weight, it was the individual's actions.
As soon as people are willing to admit this the sooner real progress can be made.
Best of luck.
Some things are true but not useful. Like, “Your baby is ugly.” It may be true, but what is anyone supposed to do about it? It’s better left unsaid.
The OP knows that no one else stuffed food in his mouth. It’s also probably true that he wouldn’t have overeaten and underexercised without the pandemic. His actions were a response to what happened. A different response was possible, but he didn’t make it. He seems pretty aware of this, thus calling himself a clown. But the weight is there now, and no amount of unpleasantness can reverse time. So, “It’s your own fault,” is both true and not useful.
I just believe in personal responsibility. We all make mistakes in various parts of our lives. We can't really correct them and improve if we don't identify the reason and take personal responsibly instead of blaming a scapegoat.
What worked for me long term was the opposite of this. It was much easier to change the elements of my surroundings to put fewer obstacles in my way than to change my own ability to deal with obstacles. In fact, gritting my teeth and trying to soldier on through sheer willpower failed every single time, while making my life more pleasant and losing weight easier has helped me maintain a normal BMI after a 125 lb weight loss for 3+ years now.11 -
rheddmobile wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »rheddmobile wrote: »Theoldguy1 wrote: »Sorry but the pandemic didn't make anyone gain weight, it was the individual's actions.
As soon as people are willing to admit this the sooner real progress can be made.
Best of luck.
Some things are true but not useful. Like, “Your baby is ugly.” It may be true, but what is anyone supposed to do about it? It’s better left unsaid.
The OP knows that no one else stuffed food in his mouth. It’s also probably true that he wouldn’t have overeaten and underexercised without the pandemic. His actions were a response to what happened. A different response was possible, but he didn’t make it. He seems pretty aware of this, thus calling himself a clown. But the weight is there now, and no amount of unpleasantness can reverse time. So, “It’s your own fault,” is both true and not useful.
I just believe in personal responsibility. We all make mistakes in various parts of our lives. We can't really correct them and improve if we don't identify the reason and take personal responsibly instead of blaming a scapegoat.
What worked for me long term was the opposite of this. It was much easier to change the elements of my surroundings to put fewer obstacles in my way than to change my own ability to deal with obstacles. In fact, gritting my teeth and trying to soldier on through sheer willpower failed every single time, while making my life more pleasant and losing weight easier has helped me maintain a normal BMI after a 125 lb weight loss for 3+ years now.
This goes back to my statement. "Some people do well with having their hand held and others need a boot to the @$$." Some people are able to modify their lifestyle to lose weight and keep it off. Others, need a complete 180 with no looking back.4 -
Geocitiesuser wrote: »Welcome to the circus! Just need to vent this out, as.... I don't really know where to vent it out at.
myfitnesspal was absolutely instrumental in getting into the best shape of my life (also a lot of weight lifting and martial arts). It took me around 2-3 years to go from 315lbs to 185lbs.
I mean, things I'm sure were slowly creeping back on, but then the pandemic hit. I didn't leave my house, didn't exercise, had all my food delivered, etc for a year.
Stepped on the scale today. Holy cow.
I went from having visible vascularity on my legs to stay puft marshmallow man in the blink of an eye. I thought I was like 250ish, MAYBE 260ish, but wow. Every single pound came back.
Lessons learned! Not much I can do but go back at it! At least I have a better handle on "new normal" now, and have a diet/exercise routine that works despite the quarantine/pandemic. Just wish I did it a year ago, but oh well!
This pandemic has been awful. Absolutely truly awful. The government telling me to #stayhome did incredible damage to my physical and mental health, and took a long time to get a handle on.
I had something very similar happen to me where I lost over 80 lbs and then gained it all back. It took a long time and it seemed to make it harder to do this time around. The reason it seems harder is because I know how hard it was to lose the weight the first time.
I don't want to count calories all my life, I know because I keep quitting these apps I start. So now I am trying to find my forever diet. I know I'll have to monitor calories for a long time and to lose this weight again.4 -
Here to join the circus. Between 2015 and 2018 I went from 250 to 135. I'm back up to 225 ffs. I allowed my circumstances (pandemic, moved in with my bf, etc) to influence some very bad decision making over a prolonged period of time. I hate that I let myself get this way again. I feel so tired, weak and incapable. Started meal tracking, walking and c25k again. I was getting close to being able to run a half marathon before I let myself go. I'm determined to make it happen. But I have to start all over. It's a bummer, but it's what I gotta do. I can do it. You can do it. 🤡12
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Geocitiesuser wrote: »Welcome to the circus! Just need to vent this out, as.... I don't really know where to vent it out at.
myfitnesspal was absolutely instrumental in getting into the best shape of my life (also a lot of weight lifting and martial arts). It took me around 2-3 years to go from 315lbs to 185lbs.
I mean, things I'm sure were slowly creeping back on, but then the pandemic hit. I didn't leave my house, didn't exercise, had all my food delivered, etc for a year.
Stepped on the scale today. Holy cow.
I went from having visible vascularity on my legs to stay puft marshmallow man in the blink of an eye. I thought I was like 250ish, MAYBE 260ish, but wow. Every single pound came back.
Lessons learned! Not much I can do but go back at it! At least I have a better handle on "new normal" now, and have a diet/exercise routine that works despite the quarantine/pandemic. Just wish I did it a year ago, but oh well!
This pandemic has been awful. Absolutely truly awful. The government telling me to #stayhome did incredible damage to my physical and mental health, and took a long time to get a handle on.
Awe 💕 You’re amazing. Sounds like you give yourself enough tough love and just need an army of support. We got you!!!4 -
psychod787 wrote: »@Theoldguy1 Brother, I am going to have to give you my shirt that says, "Warning: Contents may hurt fee fee's!"
I think you are right in a way. People love to have an excuse for what they do. The "Pandemic", (I personally don't think we should have locked down healthy people in retrospect.) We all have personal choice. We tend justify our bad decisions with excuses. I'm guilty as anyone else. Yes, some people had their lives changed, but how we react to change is up to us. "kicking someone while they were down" maybe, maybe not. Some people do well with the hand holding approach. Others, such as myself, need to have boot applied to @$$ at times.
I personally think OP is trying to get their *kitten* together. God knows, even after nearly 5 years of this stuff, I am still getting mine together. So, I cast NO stones. Best of luck OP. I would love to hear how you are doing in the future.
My original and follow up posts were not specifically addressed at the OP, just meant to be a general comment. Just saying and I still believe blaming some outside factor for our own actions is never productive as it takes away energy/focus on fixing the real problem(s).4 -
My sister is around 200 lbs overweight and lost 100 lbs using a meal delivery service. They give you 1600 calories a day and you just eat it and lose the weight. It was the only thing that had ever worked for her. Then one day she got it in her head that she had it all under control and no longer needed them, and was kinda tired of the food, because that happens with meal delivery services. She's gained all 100 pounds back, and then some. I've been working with her on getting motivated to have another go at it, but it's really, really hard to find that inner force once you've gone through this kind of thing. I've regained 40 or 50 pounds several times so I know what it's about and it sucks. You're not alone. Good luck getting back in the game.7
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I really sympathise. I lost less than you did first time around, from around 88kg to around 72kg. However, I never got my head round maintenance and I can now see from my graphs that my weight was creeping back up all the time I was thinking that I was "maintaining". Then came some medication, peri-menopause, a year with a lot of conferences (hotel food...) and I was back into the low-mid 80kgs. At the end of Lent last year I weighed in at 81kg (top of normal bmi for me) but after Easter 2020 I ballooned to over 88kg again... In my case I knew it was happening but the gradual gain never seemed enough to do anything about it, and in 2019-20 (when I scarcely weighed in at all) I think I didn't want to take seriously what was happening. However, 88kg seems to be some kind of trigger for me.
Since Easter 2020, I have lost 13 kg and am back to just over 75 kg which I had set as my goal weight this time around. I'm working now on strategies which will mean that my "trigger" weight is much lower, at between 77.5 and 78.5 kg, so that when I get there I start to track food and stop this from happening again.2 -
I think as we all get vaccinated and we resume life; we'll find there was much more damage done in the way of people gaining weight, drinking alcohol too much.. and other health problems surfacing from the lockdown requirements. Not to mention the mental health problems suffered and that will linger.
So, cut yourself a break.. most people gained weight; don't blame yourself. ..just get back on the program that gave you your success before. You can do it!3 -
Geocitiesuser wrote: »That's the trick. Don't cry over the spilled milk, just mop it up before it stinks any worse.
I love this! I Gained more than 1/2 of the 98lbs I lost - slacked for about a year before pandemic +20 - then emotional eating + inactivity +35 more.
Thanks for the timely words of wisdom!
3
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